MADISON - Democrats snagged a GOP-leaning state Senate seat in western Wisconsin on Tuesday, buoying progressive hopes that they could ride a wave of victory this fall.

Patty Schachtner, the chief medical examiner for St. Croix County, will take the seat that had been held for 17 years by former Sen. Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls). Harsdorf stepped down in November to take a job as GOP Gov. Scott Walker's agriculture secretary.

In an interview, Schachtner said she thought she beat state Rep. Adam Jarchow (R-Balsam Lake) because the race had turned nasty in mailings from groups outside the district.

“It wasn’t nice. It was mean,” she said of the campaign literature. “People just said, ‘You know what? We’re nicer than that.’ ”

In a post on Twitter, Jarchow said he had called Schachtner to congratulate her.

“I look forward to working with her as our new state senator,” he wrote in his tweet. “Thank you to all who worked so hard for our campaign.”

Schachtner took 55% of the vote to Jarchow’s 44% in unofficial returns.

Also Tuesday, in special elections for the state Assembly, voters in Washington County chose a Republican and voters in Racine County chose a Democrat, according to unofficial results.

But the focus Tuesday was on the 10th Senate District, which consists of parts of Burnett, Polk, St. Croix, Pierce and Dunn counties along Minnesota's border.

Schachtner's win gives Democrats momentum, but they remain deep in the minority. Once she is seated, Republicans will hold an 18-14 advantage, with one district vacant. That seat belonged to Sen. Frank Lasee (R-De Pere), who joined Walker's administration last month, and won't be decided until November, when 17 of the state's 33 Senate districts are up for election.

Schachtner said once she joins the Senate she hopes to focus on improving access to health care and helping drug addicts get treatment.

She sidestepped a question about whether she thought opposition to President Donald Trump helped her win.

“I’m just worried about western Wisconsin right now,” she said. “Right now, in western Wisconsin, Wisconsin values is what keeps us going.”

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Democrat Patty Schachtner speaks to supporters as she campaigned in the special election for the Wisconsin Senate seat vacated by former Sen. Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls).
Patty Schachtner campaign

The district has not been good to Democrats in the past. Mitt Romney won the district in 2012 even though he lost the presidential race in Wisconsin and nationally to Barack Obama. Trump crushed Hillary Clinton in the district in the 2016 presidential election and John McCain almost won the district in 2008, despite Obama's easy statewide victory.

Democrats saw Tuesday's victory as a sign they were taking hold of the energy that benefited their party in special elections last year in Alabama, Virginia and Oklahoma.

A former emergency medical technician who a decade ago appeared on the show "Wife Swap," Schachtner serves on the board of the Somerset School District and has served on the town board for Star Prairie.

Jarchow, an attorney, has pushed bills to strengthen the rights of property owners over government regulations and has sometimes voted against his party, opposing Walker's budget last year and the multibillion-dollar deal to bring a Foxconn Technology Group factory to Racine County.

In 2014, Jarchow easily beat Travis Schachtner, Patty Schachtner's son, to win his Assembly seat, which covers the northern portion of the Senate district dominated by Burnett and Polk counties.

Jarchow will continue to represent that district in the state's lower house.

As a sitting lawmaker Jarchow raised money all year and his campaign brought in $271,000 in 2017 — including a $50,000 loan he made to his campaign — and had $81,000 in cash at the end of the year, according to his campaign finance report. In her short time available to raise money as a candidate, Schachtner brought in $183,000 and had $53,000 in the bank at the end of the year.

Other elections

Also Tuesday, Republican Rick Gundrum beat Democrat Dennis Degenhardt 57% to 43% in the heavily GOP 58th Assembly District, according to unofficial results. The district covers West Bend, Slinger and Jackson.

Gundrum is the chairman of the Washington County Board, a member of the Slinger Village Board and the owner of audio-visual company McKay Enterprises. Degenhardt is the former president and chief executive officer of Glacier Hills Credit Union.

Gundrum will replace state Rep. Bob Gannon (R-West Bend), who died in October.

In the 66th Assembly District that covers Racine, Democrat Greta Neubauer faced no Republican challenger. She will replace Democratic Rep. Cory Mason, who stepped down after winning the race for Racine mayor in October.

Neubauer is the former director of the nonprofit Fossil Fuel Divestment Student Network. She is the daughter of state Appeals Judge Lisa Neubauer and former state Rep. Jeff Neubauer.